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The classified Intel memo: What you need to know

House Republicans are clamoring for the release of a classified memo that they say provides shocking new information about the FBI's investigation into possible cooperation between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Reporting indicates that the memo outlines allegations that the FBI used the controversial "Steele dossier" to obtain a surveillance warrant in fall 2016 against Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Such surveillance warrants hardly ever rest on a single piece of information, however.

While Nunes says the memo is made up of “facts,” Democrats have fiercely rejected that characterization, describing the document as “talking points,” “misleading” or just flat out “lies,” in some cases.

“I think the whole political purpose of this is to make a misleading case to the public, perpetuate the president’s political narrative, but not let the public see the underlying materials that would show just how distorted it is — I think that’s by design,” said Schiff, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee.

Schiff and other Democrats also insist the document cannot prove Republican lawmakers’ allegations of corruption at the FBI because most of the GOP lawmakers expressing concern only have access to the memo — not the intelligence materials that are necessary to verify such claims.

Why is it controversial?

The memo comes as many GOP lawmakers are stepping up their attacks against special counsel Robert Mueller and his Russia investigation, which is looking into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Democrats are accusing Republicans of using the memo as a distraction as well as an attempt to undermine the credibility of Mueller’s investigation, which is heating up with interviews that are reaching the president’s inner circle.

Republicans say Democrats are ignoring evidence of wrongdoing and bias at the FBI.

Nunes crafted the memo without consulting Democrats on the committee. Although Schiff, on Wednesday, announced plans to write a memo that would run counter to the claims Nunes’s document makes, but he would need Nunes to hold a vote to release it.

The two memos from members of the same committee — the panel’s senior leaders — serves as a further escalation of the bitter partisan fighting that has plagued the panel.

Democrats are accusing their GOP colleagues of purposely plucking facts to fuel their own political narrative in an attempt to protect the president.

Is it ever going to be public?

As the hype over the memo rolls into its third week, Republicans appear to be moving toward a vote as soon as next week.

“We certainly support full transparency, and we believe that’s [up to] the House Intel Committee to make that choice at this point,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at the White House press briefing on Tuesday.

If Trump, who has five days to block its release, vetoes the decision and sides with the Justice Department, the House could still override him in a floor vote.

The executive branch owns the underlying intelligence material so Trump, if he wanted to, could unilaterally make it public.

Nunes is under heavy pressure to release the memo from his Republican colleagues.

Gaetz along with 65 other lawmakers in a letter last week called on Nunes to release the memo, saying “the audience of this document should not be limited to Members of Congress — the American people deserve to know the information it contains.”